Goa Election Results Leave Floating Casinos On Edge

With Goa’s recent elections concluded, the floating casino industry on the Mandovi are on pins and needles awaiting news on the fate of their operations.

Ahead of the vote count, state party chief for the Congress Party, Luizinho Faleiro, projected a sure victory for the Congress party, saying, “We are expecting 23 to 25 seats. Many people, including our senior leaders, were saying the Congress will not get more than three seats. The situation is now from minus to plus.”

As part of their campaign this year, the Congress Party pledged to abolish the casino industry in the small Indian region. The BJP party campaigned on an identical promise in 2012, but recanted on their promise to end the casino industry’s operations on the Mandovi River shortly after being elected. Now, operators are waiting in anticipation to find out if they’ll have operations afloat for very much longer.

All India Congress Committee (AAIC) secretary Girish Chodankar reaffirmed the party’s plans in a statement to reporters prior to the release of today’s election results, confidently saying, “Once we form the government, I assure you we will not renew the excise licenses of the offshore casino vessels once they expire on March 31,” adding, “The Congress party will take appropriate legal remedies to insulate its decision to ban the sale of liquor on offshore casinos from any legal implications. We will have to make sure that the casino operators don’t challenge our decision in the court.”

Following the election results, it became apparent that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had lost their majority in the 40-member assembly, losing 8 seats off their former holdings of 21. Their rival faction, the Congress Party, improved their hold on the Assembly to 17 seats, an increase of eight from their 2012 showing.

At this point, with no majority on either side, it’s up to the two larger parties to rally smaller assembly participants and form the 21-seat majority coalition needed to take control of the government. The remaining 10 seats are divided amongst the Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which were awarded three seats apiece, with three independent candidates each winning a seat and the final remaining seat belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party.

Current Congress leader Digvijay Singh was quoted by new agency PTI, stating, “We will not mind approaching like-minded parties such as Goa Forward if we require additional numbers to form the next government.”

Governor Mridula Sinha released a statement on Monday to the effect that the BJP expected to receive support from both the MGP and Goa Forward parties. Two of the independent candidates were also reportedly in favor of joining the BJP coalition. If the support from each party is confirmed, the total number of seats for the coalition will be brought to 21. Should that be the case, Sinha will invite the BJP to form the next unified government of Goa.